Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

7 August 2025

Reading From Romans 9:1-15

“Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.”—Romans 9:5-8

From before the foundation of the world, God knew that He would create humanity with free will and that their choices would cause them to need a Savior to restore them to right relationship with Him. Such a Savior had to be a perfect human in order to fulfill the requirements of justice, but it would only be possible to find a human who would meet every qualification if that One was both fully God and fully man; the Son of God had to become the Son of Man. Jesus had to come from someone and somewhere upon the Earth and Yahweh chose the small, humble nation of Israel to be the source of redemption for all mankind.

Unfortunately, rather than appreciating this special calling and using it for God’s glory and the good of all humanity, Israel tended toward insular behavior. God intended His chosen people to be a light to all those who passed through their territory. He strategically positioned Israel between the powers of Egypt and Cush to the south and Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley to the north and east; later Greece and Rome. He put them in heart of the ancient world for a reason: to share His spiritual blessings with everyone.

So insular did their worldview become, that many Israelites in Jesus’ time thought the were made right in the eyes of God by virtue of being physical descendants of Abraham. John the Baptist obliterated this false hope in Matthew 3:8-20, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.  The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

From this and further light and knowledge through the writer of Hebrews 11, we come to know that only those who are saved by grace through faith and show genuine repentance are children of Abraham and therefore children of the Most High God. This is all possible through belief and acceptance of the ultimate sacrifice King of the Jews, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. He became the Lamb of God and through His eternal family the promise to Abraham is being fulfilled even today!

“Lord God thank You that You are faithful to keep Your promises to a thousand generations. I praise and glorify Your holy Name. Let us not become like many of the Jews of the Old Covenant who saw their connection to You and knowledge of You as something to be hoarded. May we generously share our abundance with everyone we meet. Amen.”

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.^[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”^[b]

—Genesis 12:1-3

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. ¹⁷ For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,^[e]just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith^”

—Romans 1:16-17

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.—Acts 1:8